BATON ROUGE - The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board voted Thursday night to approve the construction of two new visual and performing arts schools.

First, after hearing varying arguments both for and against the decision, the board voted to reopen Broadmoor Middle School. The facility closed in 2019. Now, it will be recreated as a conservatory school for sixth through twelfth graders.

The board also approved the expansion of the already existing Forest Heights Academy of Excellence. Currently, the school only goes from Kindergarten to fifth grade. Under this new plan, a middle school building will be built on the school's existing property to house students in grades sixth through eighth.